


La Fuerza

by imsfire



Series: Rogue One Anniversary prompts [6]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Fortune Telling, Gen, Jyn's essential compassionate nature coming through again, Jyn-centric, Pre-Rogue One, as is future Rogue One team-as-family, but for now Jyn's life is very alone and is just day to day survival, future Jyn/Cassian is implied, future fix-it AU implied, pre-Wobani, prefiguring, set during Jyn's wandering years, writing prompt day 5: Strength, written for the Rogue One First Anniversary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 18:58:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13014093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imsfire/pseuds/imsfire
Summary: “You have two meiloorun fruits in your bag.”“I – I – you want me to give you my lunch?”Jyn shares what little she has with a stranger and gets an unexpected thank-you gift.





	La Fuerza

“Alms, young mistress, alms, I beg you!  Sweet girl, alms for a poor woman!”

Sweet girl?  That surely can’t be aimed at her.

But the beggar is, unmistakably, meeting Jyn’s eye.  “Alms, alms!”

And she has nothing.

It’s a matter of pride to Jyn, the things that she’s never been reduced to; begging, whoring, busking.  She’s come close to the first sometimes, scrounging a few extras from one employer, smiling her way to a generous tip from another.  The second, she refuses and will always do, unless one day the only other option is a blaster bolt or a garrotte.  Busking for a living is a no-go simply because she can’t sing for life or honey, and the only instrument she can play is the clapping of her hands.

But although she’s never begged, she feels for those who have to.  And the beggar woman is still looking her way.  Bright eyes, very blue in a weathered face; and “Sweet girl,” says the cracked voice again “can you not spare any alms for an old woman?”

“I’ve nothing,” Jyn tells her awkwardly.  She feels painfully selfish saying it, for all that it’s true.  She hasn’t a single free credit, not so much as a copper or a scrap of scrip to her name.  “I’m sorry.”

The old woman is sitting in a doorway, swathed in a grimy robe and a cloak, barely sheltered from the beating sun.  An ancient bandage shows on one wrist and her fingernails are broken and dirty.

“You have two meiloorun fruits in your bag.”  The old voice is sad.

How does she know that?  “I – I – you want me to give you my lunch?”  But she does have two of them, it’s true.  She could share.  “Okay.  Here –“ swinging the bag off her shoulder, rummaging in it “here you are, this is probably the riper one…”

She can steal some more at the evening market, after all.

The old woman thanks her as she takes the fruit, and then suddenly her thin dirty fingers reach out to pat Jyn’s sleeve and she says “Stay!  Stay!  A kindness for a kindness, sweet girl.  Let me repay you!”

“Huh, what?  You don’t owe me anything.” _And I’m not a sweet girl at all, Force bless you, you old bat, I’m anything but sweet._

The bright eyes crease into a smile.  “I’ll tell your fortune.  A fine eye for Lady Fortune I have.”

“I think I know my fortune already, thanks.”  It’s impossible to be angry with this filthy, chatty old crone.  “Lady Fortune’s favourite kicking post, that’s me.”

“No, no, young mistress, not so, not so – here –“ the old woman pats her jacket again and then pulls a grubby pack of cards from somewhere under her robe.  She fans them out, muttering in what sounds like Alderaanian.  “La Reina, La Estrella, La Torre Derrumbada, El Hombre de Secretos, El Arma, La Muerte, La Alma Sola, El Destino Cruel, El Libro de la Vida, La Luna…  Come, come, pretty one, pick a card and I will tell you what spirit guides your hand, come, come!” 

It sounds as if she’s fallen into a practised patter; but the cards and their lyrical names are oddly intriguing and Jyn asks wryly “Is there one called ‘La Supervivencia’?”

A chuckle.  “Pick a card, sweet girl, and see.”

Honestly, of all the foolishness in her life, this takes some beating; crouching in a doorway with an old loon and a pack of Alderaanian Tarot cards.  But there are worse spots to get stuck for five minutes; it’s sheltered from the wind, and the beggar’s eyes are eccentric and kind. 

Jyn pulls a card and flips it over.

“Oh, kark.  That looks – not fun.”

“Ahh,” says the old woman.  “That card is a most intriguing one.  Tell me, what do you see in this picture?  Describe it to me.”

“A woman trying not to be eaten alive by a lion.  Or a gurrcat, or something.  Something with claws and a lot of teeth, anyway.  Or perhaps she’s wrestling it.  It’s hard to tell.”  She hands the card back with a mirthless chuckle.  “I’m guessing that one isn’t ‘La Supervivencia’, then…”

“Ahh, this card…  You’re quite right, it is hard to tell.  Is she fighting the beast or taming it?  Is she in control, or is she placing her hand in its very mouth, for the sake of what must be done?  Everyone sees it differently.  This card, young mistress, is called La Fuerza.  What do you suppose that means?”

Jyn raises her eyebrows.  “The Force, of course.”  She wishes she could make that sound as blisteringly cynical as it deserves; but her mind repeats Lyra’s last loving words to her, and her hand seeks her mother’s pendant where it rests, a hard point under her shirt.  _Mama, I know I haven’t always trusted as you bade me, but everything I try to do is hard and I just want to survive and not wind up in an Imperial prison_ …  “As in, The Force is with me?”

“Yes, that is one thing it means, La Fuerza.  ¡Que La Fuerza te acompañe!  But this card also means strength.  Strength of heart and strength of hand, strength of truth and of light; strength of purpose, to conquer all, even yourself, and to succeed no matter the odds.  It’s a double-meaning card.  It tells you the Force is always with you; and it tells you that you don’t need the Force, even though it’s with you, because you are strong enough in yourself to achieve everything you must do.”

She tucks the cards away again and smiles up at Jyn.  “You will find what you need, little sister.  What and who you need.  You will find them and they will find you, and you will save one another.  Good luck and go well!”

It’s hard to know what to say to that. 

The beggar woman wipes the meiloorun on her dirty sleeve and takes a bite; nods at Jyn with juice beginning to stain her lips.  “Enjoy your lunch, sweet girl.”

“Ah – thank you?  I guess…”

A few streets further on, Jyn takes out the second meiloorun again and turns it over in her hand, inspecting it.  It’s a good size, but decidedly green still.  Probably going to be a bit sour. 

Still, food is food, and fresh stuff is always a treat.

_The Force is with me and –  I’m so strong I don’t need it anyway?  What the hell kind of a fortune is that?  What a joke…_

She bites the fruit; and it is perfectly, deliciously ripe.

**Author's Note:**

> The Alderaanian Tarot card names are a mixture of translations of the usual Major Arcana from the European/Marseilles Tarot, plus a few I made up (spot the "Diego's filmography" references - sorry, couldn't resist!).


End file.
